AllFishNoBrakes

What up?! Work, as described earlier in this journal, is crazy right now so I took it easy on the maintenance today. Water changed most of the smaller tanks, and then just topped off all the bigger tanks and reset the air stones that needed it. Fish haven’t been fed everyday like I normally would, but I’m leaving my house at 9am and getting back between 1-2am. Thankfully, fish are resilient and we’re halfway through this county fair event that we do every year. Few more days and we’ll be back to normal. Felt good to give all tanks their normal meal tonight, though. Was able to make it to the LFS today. I got an email notification that Sparkling Gourami’s were back in stock and I’ve been pondering over/trying to find those guys for over six months at this point. Got up there, told them I was there for them, and they told me “sorry, those are still in quarantine”. Kind of a bummer, but I understand it and appreciate it. They were cool enough to let me check them out in the quarantine room, and of course I looked around a bit in there too. I didn’t go down each row, but as I walked in and out I definitely tried to see what was in there. On the plus side, we picked up my girlfriends Blue Diamond shrimp! They threw in a little Susswastertang (I know spelling isn’t right, lol) so I’m excited to see if I can get that to take off as well. Bag water test Tank water test. Little harder with a little more buffer at the LFS. Probably a little higher pH as well. Drip acclimating the shrimp as we speak, and we’ll have them in the tank soon. Sparkling Gourami’s will have to wait until they clear their quarantine at the store. The good news is they have a ton of them, so I’m fairly confident I can snatch some up. Maybe I’ll take some Panda Angels up next week and see if they’re ready. Green Neons can come out of QT and into the blackwater tank next week anyways, so maybe this was my sign to just be a little more patient. Cheers, Nerms.

I currently have cherry shrimp and chili’s in a 20 gallon long blackwater tank. The tank started as a shrimp only tank about 3 years ago. In the past couple of months I was itching to do something different and decided on a blackwater tank. I left most of the shrimp in there, simply to see if they could acclimate to the blackwater conditions. To my surprise, the cherry shrimp, dwarf crayfish, and ramshorn snails all made the transition flawlessly. Probably helps that my water is already lower pH, soft, with little to no buffer. Tannins and botanicals haven’t shifted my parameters at all in the past several months, so basically my tank just got a bunch of tannins. Shrimp are continuing to thrive and the community is gaining numbers back from when I pulled some out and put them in other tanks at the beginning of the transition. The Chili’s have been a fun addition. When I first put them in the tank they mostly hung out in the back, and the water is so dark I could barely see them. They’d only really come to the front during feeding time. Now, about a month later, they’ve adjusted and swim all over the place. Their coloration is beautiful, and in my experience have been a fun and active fish. Next I’ll be adding Green Neon Tetras and my blackwater tank will be complete.

Holds up well enough for me. Definitely haven’t had it become brittle, and when I need to take the lids off to clean they still hold together. Definitely shows some wear and tear over the 3 year period I’ve had them, but if I really wanted to I could just rip off the tape and throw a new strip on there.

I literally just cut mine where I wanted the hinge, taped it back together with clear gorilla tape, and then use some sort of cheap command strip hanger for a spot to grab and flip it open. Definitely not fancy, but definitely works like a charm 3 years later

@TeeJay your stand looks great 😉. Glad you can show yours off now! I feel like I’ve overstayed my welcome showing off mine lol

My recommendations are: 1. If you’re wanting to establish a shrimp colony, it’s much easier to do in a shrimp only tank. 2. Try to get shrimp locally if you can. I started with 15 Cherry Shrimp that I bought from someone locally and have sold hundreds of shrimp once the colony was established. Having shrimp raised in local water gives you a much better chance from the start.

You can definitely run a 55 on just sponge filters. Considering you have several types of filters, I’d just start turning them off one-by-one until you’re down to what you want. Shut one down, and then wait a couple weeks for the bacteria to catch up on the remaining filters. Shut down the next filter, and then wait a few weeks again. Could also reduce feeding a bit when you shut down a filter just to ensure you don’t overload the system. I have (2) 55 gallon tanks, one of them being a grow out tank for fry. There’s probably 75 angelfish in there, along with Platy’s and Cory’s I’ve bred, too. Easily over 100 fish in that tank and it runs on 2 medium sized sponge filters and a small HOB with just some sponge and an intake filter sponge. My other 55 has Angelfish, Cory’s, and Cardinal Tetras. It runs on a HOB and a large sponge filter. I’m confident either of my tanks could run on the sponges alone.

For ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate I prefer the API liquid tests. Sure, they take more time, and you have to follow the instructions to the letter, but I feel they’re more accurate. I like the ACO strips every once in a while to confirm what I already know. Lower pH, soft water, with little to no buffer.

I know, right? Lol. The Chili’s have gotten a lot more comfortable and are out and about. They come up to the front of the glass and say what’s up and then disappear into the darkness. Stoked to see the Green Neons in there! Their super bright stripe down the sides should really pop.

Too good. Now, he needs to make the holder for the test tube so you can shake that bad boy for a minute, too!

I’ve found it way harder to grow plants in, and I’m not gonna be doing bags of aquasoil under the sand and things of that nature. Also way harder to gravel vac, and I don’t like that mulm sits on the top of it. Overall, just not for me. I simply prefer gravel

I’m a heathen and have my Cory’s on gravel. I know, I know… but I just really don’t like sand. I have sand in the 20L blackwater tank (started as a shrimp tank if you remember) and that’s fine, but I wish it was gravel. Used the leftover sand in my Pea Puffer tank, and I wish it was gravel there, too. It’s a smooth gravel, though. Might be fun to do a “crystal clear blackwater setup” in this one. Just wood with a few rocks, and a few epiphytes, but clear water. Could help take the actual blackwater setup next to it and help carry it over to the next tank, and contrast the extremely dark water next door. Might be onto something here… That’s my problem, too! I don’t know exactly what I want to do, so figured I’d grab some ideas from the fellow Nerms and see if any of them sound fun. The Cory’s are staying for sure, the GlowLights are getting up there in age and won’t be around forever, and the same goes for the Hatchets. I’m seeing it as an opportunity to do something fresh with the 29. Used to be one of my favorite tanks, but now it’s just one of the tanks, so I think a refresh could help put it back on the favorite list. Black Neons could be fun!

@Lennie that’s a pretty rad set up, but paludariums aren’t really my jam. I want that box of water as full as it can be!

My 29 gallon was the first “big” tank that I ever set up, and #3 of the 14 I currently have running. I’ve always enjoyed it, it taught me a lot in those early days, but I’m currently itching to do something new with it. The Dwarf Neon Rainbows will be moved to the 55 gallon with the Angelfish. The Glowlight Tetras are getting up to the 3+ year old mark and will live out their days in this tank. Still have a couple Marbled Hatchets and those too will stay and live out their days. Albino Cory’s will stay as they’re currently what I enjoy most in the tank. Hardscape definitely needs an update, as well. I love the piece of Spiderwood in there, but it could use an update overall. Knowing me, I’ll probably just use more DragonStone and more wood. I’m a sucker for that stuff. I’ve contemplated a second blackwater tank but I’m not sold on it. It’s literally right next to the current blackwater tank. Always an option, but I’m not sold on it yet. Basically, I’m not set on anything whatsoever, but I’m kicking around ideas. I’ve learned that I want to be 100% sure on what I want to do and build exactly what I want. I’m beyond the “let’s try that” stage of my hobby as I end up stuck with fish I’m not stoked on. So, I’m curious, what YOU would put with the Albino Cory’s in a 29 gallon? I’m in no rush to make a move, but just know I want to do something different. For once, I don’t want to breed in this tank. Just want a lovely planted community. Let me know your thoughts or what you would do if you had this tank!

Agreed that if the old filter went in, it should be able to handle the load, assuming you’re feeding the same. The filter doesn’t care what tank it’s in, it simply processes the load that has been established. I would test daily, and any time ammonia got to .5ppm or above I would do a 50% water change. You could also use a dose of Prime to help get through any ammonia that is present. Test daily, water change as necessary, use Prime or Fritz Complete if you have it and want to skip a water change, and you should be back to fully cycled in no time.

All the same sex would be the way to go then, in my opinion. With lots of caves and lots of driftwood you’re creating lots of places for them to spawn. Before purchasing any fish I’d ask the store about returning whatever sex you don’t want after you’ve grown them out and can sex them. If they’re cool about it, maybe you could get some store credit for growing them out to put towards other things, or trade them back at a bigger size (that they should be able to sell for more) for more juveniles to grow out again and sex. Lots more work, for sure, but would meet your needs.

My first Pleco spawn was ~50 fry. Since then, I’ve learned to just check the cave with weekly water changes, or if I notice the male heavily guarding his cave. When they spawn again, I just pull the eggs out of the cave and dispose of them. A community setting might be more difficult to pull eggs as there could be more places for them to spawn, but I would be surprised if whole spawns could survive. Doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen, just means it’s more difficult than my setup where they only really have 2 places to spawn

14 is still pretty good for something you weren’t expecting! Pleco fry blow my mind with how big the yolk is compared to the fry

All my 10 gallon tanks (6 of them) just run a sponge filter. Even my 20 gallon long just has 1 sponge filter. Really comes down to what you prefer more and how much flow you want or need.

Agreed that they don’t “disappear” when water is added, but when I’m looking at my tanks I don’t really pay attention to the silicone. Where I do pay attention to it is before I buy the tank. I try to select the tank with the “best” silicone job. I’ve seen tanks that have it dribbled all over the viewing panels of the glass and I definitely don’t want to take the time to scrape it off.

Howdy fish folk! Yesterday I water changed all the tanks and reset all the air stones. I really hope ACO comes out with a true never clog air stone as I’m getting real tired of having to do this every week to maintain the amount of air coming through the stone that I want. Don’t really think it’s a hard water issue as my water is super soft and there’s never any calcium or other mineral build up on the felt. Almost seems like the air coming through felt dries it out and then it doesn’t work as well as I want it to. Fingers crossed ACO solves this problem for me in the near future. Green Neons have the meds removed from the water with a 50% water change and are chugging right along. Couple more weeks (at least) of quarantine and then I’ll move them over. Stoked to get them in the blackwater tank. Still dealing with a little green water in the 6 gallon cube. Did an extra water change on that tank today to try to combat the problem. Some pics I snapped today: 6 gallon cube got a fat trim yesterday and an extra water change today. Once the Green Neons come out of the quarantine tank I’m gonna get another handful of CPD’s for this tank. The lone survivor from the first group of CPD’s from a year and a half ago could use some fish friends. Albino Cory’s spawned. Again, lol. The female looked suuuuper plump this morning and everyone was zooming around the tank. The only reason this spawn was as surprising is because they just spawned last week, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen it two weeks in a row. Elsewhere on the forum I saw someone mention tannins, and to have less of them to “boil botanicals for 15 minutes and then let the botanicals steep for an hour”. Tried that today and the extra boil time plus steep time definitely removed more tannins. This will allow me to have a deeper concentrate for if/when I want to replace tannins from the blackwater tank when doing water changes. I have also thrown a couple leaves in another tank, so if I wanna darken up the water I could definitely use this. Keep those eyes peeled 👀 Added 3 giant Catappa Leaves yesterday, and then boiled 3 more today along with 3 Pear Pods, 3 Twisty Pods, and 3 other botanical something or anothers to the tank. Boiled everything for 15 minutes and then steeped for an hour to get the concentrate above. This allowed me to add a bunch of visual appeal to this tank (as all the old leaves have basically decayed to nothing) without adding a ton more tannins (hopefully) as the water is already super dark. Also, the Chili Rasboras are continuing to settle in and will swim/school to the front of the tank now, instead of just at meal time! This allows me to actually see them, have the dark dark water I want, and really enjoy this tank more. Their coloration is beautiful. Need to get the Green Neons in here and the shrimp feeding dish out and we’ll have a tank I’m super happy with. Cheers, everyone! Thanks for rocking with me and my tanks. Until the next one.

My only real comment is that 40ppm nitrates shouldn’t be something to stress over. I have tanks that run ~40ppm nitrates, and have for years with no issues. Agreed with @Colu that as your floating plants start to spread they will help soak up nitrates. If it was me, I wouldn’t stress it.

Lol, for sure. I never imagined I’d have 14 tanks in my house, but I do, and I love it. The @ wrote itself. Appreciate the kind words regarding the tanks.

I’ve successfully raised a couple batches of the Albinos. And a couple batches of the Julii’s. They’re fun, but slow growers, and I really just don’t have the time right now. Just a couple Anubius in the blackwater tank.

@nabokovfan87 excellent question. I too was puzzled. I always click the buttons, and felt like I didn’t need to. Now we know! Thanks for asking the question, and thanks to @Zenzo for the clarification.